The Provincial Historical Archive of Seville (AHPS), dependent on the Ministry of Culture and Sports, will exhibit in April as Document of the Month – an activity aimed at showcasing the documentary collections of the Seville archival institution – the contract for the creation of the Christ of the Expiration, by the sculptor Marcos de Cabrera, dated in December of 1575, the year in which the Brotherhood of the Museum was also founded.
In celebration of the 450th anniversary of the creation of the brotherhood, which parades every Holy Monday, the archival institution will show the citizens the document that certifies the commission to the Sevillian sculptor for the execution of a crucifix with its cross. This contract, which invites the visitor to travel back in time, belongs to the Celestino López Martínez Collection of the Provincial Historical Archive.
As stated in the document, Hernando de Soria and Rodrigo Hurtado, from the silverware art, mayor and deputy of the Brotherhood of the Expiration of Christ, commissioned an image of Christ on his cross, at the moment of expiration, to Marcos de Cabrera, with the imaginer painter Juan Díaz acting as a guarantor. The deed stipulates the condition of «giving form and finish in all perfection (sic) to a Christ made of paste with his cross, incarnated and finished in every detail.»
In the contract, as explained by the archivist at the AHPS, María de los Ángeles Luna, the price of the carving is also disclosed, which was subject to the valuation determined by «two men who understand that they deserve it.» From the total cost, six ducats that the author donated as alms to the brotherhood had to be subtracted.
Detail of the contract for the creation of the Christ of the Expiration.
This commission, as described by Alonso Sánchez Gordillo in his ‘Memory of religious stations’, was due to some young silverware officials, who proposed on Palm Sunday, listening to the Passion in the Monastery of La Merced, to have a crucified figure at the moment of expiration, when he raises his gaze to the sky.
Despite being close to death, the body contorts in an ascending movement that forms opposing curves creating the ‘serpentinatta line’, so characteristic of Mannerism. In this way, the master manages to capture, through the tension in the body and face, the expression of an agonizing figure punished by the enormous effort of taking a last breath and about to expire.
Marcos de Cabrera models for the Brotherhood of the Expiration a work with a truly innovative approach, both in concept, for the moment of the Passion it represents, and in artistic terms. With his chisel, he manages to capture, in the gesture of his face, human suffering in its maximum expression.
In the presentation of the document of the month of April, the territorial delegate of Culture and Sports, Carmen Ortiz, the director of the Provincial Historical Archive of Seville, Braulio Vázquez, and the archivist and person in charge of the document of the month, María de los Ángeles Luna, participated.
The document of the month or ‘documés’ is an activity organized every month by the Provincial Historical Archive of Seville. Its objective is to exhibit documents preserved in this center, chosen for their uniqueness and content, which are relevant to illustrate a historical event being commemorated at that time. Also shown are documents that stand out for their peculiar graphic characteristics, such as plans, engravings, drawings, or photographs. On this occasion, the document coincides with the 450th anniversary of the founding of the Brotherhood of the Museum.